In London, the Russian pregnant teenager Tatiana arrives bleeding in a hospital, and the doctors save her baby only. The Russian descendant midwife Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts) finds Tatiana's diary written in Russian language in her belongings and decided to find her family to deliver the baby, she brings the diary home and ask her uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) to translate the document. Stepan refuses, but Anna finds a card of a restaurant owned by the Russian Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) inside the diary and she visits the old man trying to find a lead to contact Tatiana's family. When she mentions the existence of the diary, Semyon immediately offers to translate the document. However, Stepan translates part of the diary and Anna discovers that Semyon and his sick son Kirill (Vincent Cassel) had raped Tatiana when she was fourteen years old and forced her to work as prostitute in a brothel of their own. Further, Semyon is the dangerous boss of the Russian mafia "Vory v Zakone", jeopardizing the safety of Anna and her family. Meanwhile, Semyon's driver Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen) gets close to Kirill and Semyon, climbing positions in the criminal organization, but he helps Anna, her family and the baby.
After "A History of Violence", David Cronenberg makes another engaging an d violent thriller with the excellent actor Viggo Mortensen. His character recalls the one he performed in the magnificent "American Yakuza" in the beginning of his successful career. After the Italian mobsters, Latin drug dealers and Yakuza, it seems that Russian Mafia and human trafficking are the present mobster organization and business explored by the cinema industry. In addition to the great direction of Cronenberg, the performances of Vincent Cassell and Armin Mueller-Stahl are top-notch and Naomi Watts is efficient as usual. In the end, "Eatern Promises" is a great entertainment. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Senhores do Crime" ("Lords of the Crime")
